


Leyden Jar

by 263Adder



Series: Science for Geniuses, Love for Dummies [5]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Childhood, F/M, Pre-Series, Vanya Goes to School
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:29:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26109472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/263Adder/pseuds/263Adder
Summary: Vanya wasn’t entirely sure how it had happened, finding the entire turn of events bewildering. Yet somehow, in the months since Dad had sent her to school, she’d become popular.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy & Vanya Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy/Vanya Hargreeves, The Hargreeves Family
Series: Science for Geniuses, Love for Dummies [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1471910
Comments: 226
Kudos: 474
Collections: The umbrella academy





	1. Glass

Vanya wasn’t entirely sure how it had happened, finding the entire turn of events bewildering. Yet somehow, in the months since Reginald had sent her to school, she’d become popular.

It had started when her English teacher, Mr Paige, had read an assignment she’d written for her homework, one describing her passions: the only one which came to mind was playing the violin. He recommended Vanya join the school orchestra. The conductor was impressed with her skill considering she hadn’t participated in an orchestra before and happily admitted her to the club. Not long after that, the school orchestra was asked to provide music for the drama club.

The director had already chosen the score pieces he wanted, which were heavy on the brass and percussion instruments. There were only two other people in the orchestra who played stringed instruments, not enough to justify changing all the music, so they largely sat apart from the others while the practised the main pieces during drama rehearsals. One day, the director had asked them all to take part as they were short on sign-ups that semester. They didn’t even have enough members to have understudies.

Vanya, a permanent wallflower, had tried to protest but her own shyness undermined her attempts to avoid the stage. At first, she was only given a non-speaking role – which she tried to convince herself she could handle, after all, no one would be looking at _her_ – but, when a girl from the drama club moved to another city, she was asked to take her part. She was the only girl from the strings section and, at the behest of the director and conductor, she soon had lines to stumble over as she filled the vacant role.

One of the people she shared scenes with – Louisa, a pretty blonde over a head taller than her – found her shyness adorable and suggested they read their lines together at lunch. Louisa was also on the cheerleading team and so popular Vanya tried to avoid eye contact with her whenever possible; the popular kids at her school uncomfortably reminding her of her family.

She always sat at the same table right in the middle of the cafeteria, surrounded by all the other popular people. The kind of people who always intimidated her.

Terrified the first time she sat down, waiting for an outpouring of criticism for the ordinary girl having the audacity to join them, she was flabbergasted by how warmly she was greeted.

“Oh, you’re in the play with Louisa? That’s cool, what part are you playing?”

“Your name is Vanya? Are you Russian too? I’m a quarter Russian, my grandma moved here when she was a girl.”

“I _love_ your bangs. I’ve been thinking about getting some too, but I’m not sure I can pull it off. I don’t have your cheekbones. What do you think?”

“You’re new right, where did you transfer from? Did you just move to the city?”

Vanya had answered all of their questions, unable to shake the nervous tone from her voice as she still waited for the inevitable moment they would realise just how unremarkable she was. Instead, more questions flowed and she was quickly invited into their jokes. When they stood to go to class, everyone asked if she would join them the following day and she shyly agreed.

Just being seen in the company of the popular crowd, people had started taking more notice of her after that. She didn’t know whether to be thrilled or terrified. One of the first things Father had told her when she was unceremoniously informed about her transferral – to an environment better suited to _her kind_ – was to keep a low profile. People couldn’t become aware of her connection to the Umbrella Academy under any circumstances, which Vanya understood. Why would they want to be associated with her?

The next day at school, people started to say hello to her in the halls or when she sat down in classes. She’d become so flustered that she was rosy-cheeked for most of the day. When she left to go home, several people had then wished her a good night and she had to lie to account for her blush and tell Five the car had been really hot.

He was the only one, besides Grace and Abhijat, who asked about her school day. When Vanya had been told she would go to school, she had rushed to inform Five who spent the next week fruitlessly trying to convince Reginald not to follow through with the plan. As always when he had made up his mind however, it was impossible to make him change it.

The separation was hard for them both; Vanya had only ever really had Five for company and Five worried how Vanya would survive without him. At home, he often had to intervene when his siblings began to pick on her and, with only missions and stifling formal events to shape his perceptions of the general public, he had no confidence that her classmates would be friendly.

Vanya had struggled the first few weeks, barely speaking unless spoken to, and taking her lunch in empty rooms alone. Strangely though, the more her social life improved, the worst she felt.

Five clearly still didn’t like them being apart and she hated the idea that he would think she liked being away from him. So, as her popularity grew, her accounts of her school day grew more _exaggerated_. Vanya wouldn’t say she was lying per se, she just focused on the parts of her day which she could honestly say was boring: math lessons which she had to struggle through without his tutelage, physical education classes – a first for her, which had left her constantly short-breathed at first – and the lacklustre food they served in the canteen.

In reality, though, those parts were easy to live with as the rest of her days became increasingly fun. Vanya got better at reciting her lines and became friendlier with the other people in her orchestra. People knew her name and would say hello to her in the hallways. On a Monday morning, they’d ask how she had spent the weekend. She’d even started to get invites to go and hang out at the mall or cinema. It was an invitation Father would never allow her to accept, but the offers thrilled her anyway. She was never included in those kinds of activities before – not unless Five forced the others to ask her. But her friends at school actually _wanted_ her there.

“You know what would be so much fun?” Louisa said the next time they sat down to lunch. “You should totally join the cheerleading squad.”

“Yes!” Ellen, Louisa’s best friend, responded enthusiastically. “We’re holding try-outs in a few weeks.”

“Oh, I couldn’t…” Vanya protested. Had they not seen her in gym class? Sure, she was starting to do better but she wasn’t nearly talented enough to become a cheerleader.

“Don’t worry, it’s not like in the films. We keep our routines pretty simple, it’s mostly just chanting and supporting the sports teams.” Louisa reassured.

“Yeah, we don’t compete or anything. Our squad was only formed, like, six years ago.” Ellen explained. “The girl who founded it actually had a prosthetic leg, so she wrote into the club’s constitution that it should be accessible to everyone.”

“And thank god,” Niko, a boy from the drama club, said, “or I never would’ve gotten in.”

“I’ll help you practice. I have time after fourth period.” Ellen encouraged.

“Me too! Oh, come on. It’ll be fun!” Louisa added. “And we can spend more time together. Come on. Please?”

Vanya told Grace the orchestra were meeting for extra sessions once she relented, certain Sir Reginald would consider cheerleading a frivolous waste of time and effort.

She went into her first practice session convinced she would be terrible, so shy she’d nearly knocked Ellen into a wall when she tripped over her own feet. Everyone was patient with her though and, after a couple of weeks, she found herself loving every minute of it. She gradually improved, becoming more confident to try the more gymnastic elements, especially when she – rather nervously – decided to ditch her second pill of the day. They had always made her slightly drowsy and, given her popularity, she was sure she could handle a lowered dose of anxiety medication. Not that she asked Father for permission – she couldn’t without him finding out about her cheerleading.

The team were biased by the time try-outs came along and, once people Vanya knew were far better than her, had been sent packing she was handed the uniform. Its full skirt was a vivid red, with a blue body and long white sleeves. Their school’s emblem was emblazoned across the shirt and Louisa had already stitched Vanya’s name into the collar. She loved it.

After she’d tried it on, taking a few twirls before the mirror to admire it, the uniform was carefully placed in her locker for safekeeping; Vanya was too terrified at the thought of anyone finding it at the Academy to take it home with her.

“So practice is every Tuesday and Thursday after school,” Louisa reminded. “Thursdays the guys will be playing on the field too. It’s good, helps us learn to stay out of their way when they’re playing for real. But it’ll just be us on Tuesday.”

Vanya smiled at her, still timid but getting brighter every day. “Sounds great.”

“You did great today, Vanya. You really did a great job. I bet your family will be super proud when you tell them tonight.”

She smiled blandly at that, sending up a secret prayer that the others would never find out.

“Don’t forget Mr Constable has a full dress rehearsal on Friday too.”

“Right.”

“When do you have orchestra practise again?”

“Monday and Wednesday lunch,” Vanya said with a slight sigh. At this rate, she’d have no time to finish her homework. Granted, she had the time when she was at home but Five got annoyed if she was too busy to spend time with him. They rarely saw each other since she had been sent to a regular school. At least, as Five regularly consoled her, Reginald hadn’t sent her to boarding school as he had once threatened. She would still have him in the evenings and on weekends – how bad could it be, they’d reasoned?

Never in a million years would she have thought things would turn out like this.

“You’re so lucky.” Louisa gushed. “Your college application will look amazing with all these extracurriculars. Colleges always love musicians too. Do you know where you want to go?”

“Not yet,” Vanya said, taken aback. College was years away. “Do you?”

“I was thinking I’d go to Albany,” Louisa said decisively. “If they’ll have me.”

“I’m sure they will.” She assured her, unable to imagine anyone could turn someone like Louisa away. Vanya was still in a perpetual state of shock that someone so popular enjoyed spending time with her.

Except for Five, her family were always eager to escape her company.

“So the team and I were thinking of going to this pizza place in midtown on Saturday. I know you said you’re usually busy but…”

Vanya cut her off before she could finish her invitation, feeling too guilty about all the lies she had to tell about her life outside the school grounds.

“Sorry, Louisa. You know I’d love to but with all these clubs, I’m really falling behind on my homework. My Father is really strict about grades so I need to get it done.”

Louisa chuckled. “You’re the only person I’ve ever heard call their Dad _Father_. It sounds so old fashioned.”

“Oh,” she mumbled, feeling her cheeks heat up again, “it’s what he tells us to call him.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Louisa laughed, glancing at her. “Aww, you’re blushing again. You are too cute. No wonder we keep drawing crowds at rehearsals.”

Vanya’s blush deepened even though she knew Louisa’s teasing was light-hearted. The only people who sat in the pews were orchestra members and some of Louisa’s friends, who did their homework while occasionally shouting words of encouragement. They’d started doing it for Vanya too, while she was still stumbling over her lines, making her – somehow – even worse. The director had booted them from the theatre for a while until she got them right; now they were a semi-permanent fixture.

They passed the theatre crowd then who, like Louisa, always delighted in seeing their newest member bright red.

“What did you say to her now?” Niko asked, throwing an arm around Vanya’s shoulders. “Were you complimenting her pike jump again? I told you, girl, you nailed it!” 

Gabriel, who, like Niko loved seeing her blush, joined in.

“Did you finally point out how big a crush James from biology clearly has on her?”

They all laughed as Vanya turned so crimson she nearly became light-headed.

“Relax,” Louisa said, as Vanya pressed her cold hands to her face to try to cool down. “They’re only teasing you.”

“She’s so cute,” Niko said to Gabriel, who Vanya had only just found out yesterday was his boyfriend.

Apparently, her naivety was adorable, they all kept telling her so.

Vanya was constantly amazed by how little she apparently knew about the real world. She thought Mom had taught them everything they needed to know in their classes, yet she was constantly amazed by how out of touch she was.

Luckily for her, the others knew she’d previously been home-schooled and were patient with her. They seemed to presume her family were rather religious, apparently as most home-schooled children came from religious families, and Vanya didn’t correct them; it worked quite well as an excuse for her inexperience with the real world.

When she’d first joined the drama crowd they’d explained how schools really worked – telling her what cliques were and which were the ones she wanted to join and which ones she should avoid. She’d already been able to spot the popular ones – a lifetime in the Umbrella Academy’s shadow had made it easy to recognise that – but she’d had no idea what some of the other groups were like. Niko was especially amused when he had to explain what _grass_ was – evidently different to the variety which grew on the lawn – and which students sold it. Once Vanya had been made aware of the signs of drug use, she had to admit, it was fairly obvious. She also now understood why Ben and Five were always so concerned about Klaus.

“How are you getting on with your lines?” Gabriel asked as they walked to the canteen. Unlike Vanya, he had a leading part in the play yet that never stopped him from helping everyone else out at rehearsals. He’d practised lines with Vanya over the lunch table several times, even though they had no scenes together, always happy to help the other cast members out.

“Okay,” she said tentatively, “I think I’ve got them memorised. I’m still a bit nervous about performing in front of so many people though.”

“I’ll ask the cheerleaders to sit in on a rehearsal,” Louisa suggested, “it might help you get used to a crowd.”

“Oh, that would be helpful. If they’re not too busy.” She clarified, always terrified of being an imposition.

“Relax! What are friends for?” Louisa assured her.

They all trotted off to lunch, grabbing their food before sitting around a bustling table of people all ready to ask how they were and talk about their day.

Vanya was still unable to comprehend how she had gotten there as she was greeted by the group, but was slowly starting to feel that she belonged there.

* * *

Abhijat always collected her from school, the only person at the Academy who could without drawing any questions or a crowd.

Usually, he was only around the children when Reginald was also in the car. For years he had sat behind the wheel, always a stonily silent presence who Vanya had found intimidating. It was only once it was just the two of them that she realised he only acted that way because he was in front of his employer.

“Good afternoon, Vanya.” He greeted cheerfully as she slid into the car, feeling slightly sore from her first official training session on the cheerleading team.

Vanya had started to ride in the front with Abhijat after a few weeks of them driving to and from school together and he waited for her to secure her seatbelt before easing them into traffic. “How was your day? Did you get up to anything fun?”

Like everyone at the Academy, Vanya couldn’t risk revealing too much about her extracurricular activities for fear Father would hear of them and make her quit. Still, she was able to talk about the orchestra and what she’d had for lunch. They chatted happily as they drove, Abhijat eventually filling her in on a mission the Umbrella Academy had that afternoon.

Immediately concerned, she asked, “Was everyone okay afterwards?”

“Yes, Vanya.” He assured. “They didn’t even have any blood on them and you know that’s always a good sign.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, she asked if he knew what they did on the mission.

“I’m sure they’ll tell you when you get home.”

Giving him an exasperated look, Abhijat smiled at the increasingly brazen girl sitting beside him. He had barely been able to get eye contact from her when Mr Hargreeves had first instructed him to drive her to and from school.

“I believe,” he conceded, “there was a hostage situation. Miss Allison rumoured the abductors into submission and Mr Luther escorted them to the police waiting outside. That’s all I know. Remember, I was in the car the whole time.”

“Thanks, Abi.” She said, using the nickname he’d suggested she use the other week. Apparently, his family called him that. He talked about them sometimes. They sounded nice. Especially compared to hers who usually referred to her by a number.

“Have you made any friends yet?” He asked, slightly worried that she didn’t seem to be socialising as a girl her age should be.

She would love to tell him all about Louisa, Niko, Ellen and Gabriel and all the other wonderful people she was happy to call her friends but, no matter how comfortable she got with Abhijat she knew he always worked for Reginald first and foremost. Five had reminded her of that when she started travelling with him – using the same speech he’d first issued about talking freely to Grace and Pogo – and she knew she needed to be careful about what she revealed about herself.

“The people in my orchestra group are nice. They seem excited about the play we’ll perform in. It’s only a few weeks away now.”

“That will be nice. Have you ever thought about auditioning to take part in it yourself?”

“No,” she lied, feeling guilty as she did, “I don’t think I could stand having all those people looking at me. I’m happier by the side of the stage.”

In reality, she would only be in the orchestra section for the opening and closing pieces, before running backstage to prepare for her part. It was only small, barely a page full of lines in total, but her character would be in the background of a few scenes and the director had decided it would be easier if she stayed backstage when she wasn’t needed instead of running to the orchestra section.

“Well as long as you have fun, that’s all that matters.” Abhijat encouraged. “Is Mr Hargreeves planning to see the play.”

“No,” Vanya said, almost snorting in amusement. “He probably doesn’t even know about it. I told Mom and Pogo though, they said it was all right.” She tacked on at the end, not wanting Abi to think she was participating without permission.

“Maybe one of them will attend.” He said, even though they both knew they wouldn’t be able to.

“Yeah.” She mumbled, keeping her fingers crossed the entire time she spoke to negate her words. “Hopefully.”

They pulled around the back of the Academy. Abhijat didn’t get out with her but watched until she was safely through the kitchen door.

“Vanya.” Grace greeted warmly. She was standing over the stove preparing their dinner. “How was your day?”

“Good, thanks.”

“I made you a snack.” She said, gesturing with a sweeping arm towards the kitchen table.

“Thanks,” Vanya said, sitting down to eat.

Before she’d started school, the thought of an afternoon snack had never appealed but since she started gym and practising cheerleading, her appetite had become ferocious. The first cheerleading practice session tonight had been especially difficult, as the opening game would start in a few weeks and they needed their routine perfected, so she eagerly set into her snack feeling absolutely ravenous despite having a full meal for lunch with dessert.

“Where are the others?” She asked around a bite. “Abhijat said there was a mission?”

“Yes, dear. There was a hostage situation. The other children are debriefing Sir Reginald now.” Grace answered serenely. “Would you like some milk?”

Nodding, she said, “Yes, please. Is everyone okay?”

“My medical programme was not activated. Here you are.”

She sighed, conceding that she would have to wait for Five to tell her what had actually happened.

After finishing her snack, Vanya headed upstairs to put her books in her room and do some homework.

She would have liked to practice her violin some more – her new activities at school were wonderful but sometimes she feared it distracted her from her main focus. If she didn’t keep improving, Father might take the violin away from her.

Her homework needed doing though. When she’d first started school, spending most of her time alone, she’d finished her homework during her solitary lunch or free periods – always eager to set aside as much time as she could to spend with Five once she got back to the Academy.

That was before she joined the orchestra. Then got a part in the school play. Then became a cheerleader.

Vanya grimaced as she spread out her books on the desk in her room, shuffling through everything to find the English essay she needed to finish for Mr Paige.

Hopefully, Five wouldn’t be upset that her time was becoming more constrained. It would be easier if she could explain why she’d become so busy but, as far as Five thought, Vanya hated school.

While the rest of the Academy hadn’t thought twice about Vanya getting sent off to regular school – only feeling that it was fitting the ordinary one finally go and spend time around other ordinary people – Five hadn’t been happy. With time, it had gotten easier for Vanya. She made friends, spent time doing things she enjoyed instead of being side-lined all the time. Five’s feelings hadn’t changed however and she didn’t want to upset him. She didn’t want him to think she was happy they were apart because she _wasn’t_. Despite her feelings towards the Academy, she would eagerly trade in attending her new school to resume spending her days with him.

Still, it was hard hiding such a large part of her life from him. Vanya wanted to tell him all about her new friends, bring him into her new world and share it all with him. It wasn’t possible though. He was with the Academy and Vanya wasn’t. There was an entire part of him he couldn’t share with her; her ordinariness prevented that. And now her ordinariness kept him from a part of her.

Sighing, she started on her homework. Mr Paige – Frank, as he insisted his students called him – was the person who had first suggested she join the orchestra. He was always interested in his student’s work and had quickly become one of her favourite teachers. As such, no matter how busy she was, Vanya worked hard on her essay. Giving it more time than she really had to spare, determined to give him her best.

Five jumped to her room as she was finishing off the conclusion of her first draft, lighting up the room.

As soon as he appeared, her pen dropped and Vanya bounced up from her chair to greet him. While she had only seen him that morning – exchanging subtle smiles over the dining table – it felt like an eternity.

“Hi, Five.” She said chipperly, turning to look at him. After a careful assessment, she was relieved to see he looked unharmed. He didn’t even have a scratch.

Five gave her the same look even though she was at no risk of being hurt.

“Is that a bruise?” He asked, pointing to her elbow.

Confused, Vanya twisted her arm around to try and see it. As soon as she saw the vivid purple bruise, she remembered a hard landing during practice. It was the first time she’d attempted a backflip and, while she’d managed it by the end of the session, the first few times had led to some painful falls.

Tugging on her sleeve to cover it, she shrugged it off. “Must have banged it at some point. I didn’t even feel it.”

Five didn’t look convinced. “It looks pretty sore.”

Vanya chuckled nervously. “It’s fine. I didn’t notice it until you pointed it out.”

“If you say so.”

“How are the others? Abi said you were on a mission today?”

“Abi?” Five questioned, looking at her curiously.

Did no one else call him that, she wondered? Strange, before Vanya started going to school, it was the Academy members who spent the most time with him.

“Abhijat.” She amended. “Is everyone all right?”

“Yeah, we’re fine.” Five said, reluctantly letting Vanya’s injury go. He still eyed her bruise as he spoke. “They’d snatched a family – wife and three kids – to try to blackmail this guy. Held them up at a warehouse downtown.”

She cooed sympathetically. “Were they all okay?”

“Allison got them out. The kidnappers were easy to take care of. No injuries. It was easy.” He shrugged, glancing around her to look at the books on her desk. “What are you working on?”

“English essay. I’ve nearly got my first draft done then I’ve got my math homework.”

“Why didn’t you do it at school?”

“Orchestra overran.” She excused.

“I thought you only had orchestra during Monday and Wednesday lunch?” He asked suspiciously.

“Oh, I do,” Vanya admitted, feeling flustered. She hadn’t expected him to remember that. “But we’re performing in the school play in a few weeks so we have extra sessions.”

Five looked at her, curious about her agitated response.

Vanya blushed under his stare and turned back to her homework.

“I really should get this done before dinner.”

“Give me your math homework.” Five said, snatching it off her desk before she could say anything. “I’ll do it.”

“You don’t have to…”

“I know. But if I don’t you’ll have to work on it after dinner and I wanted to talk to you about some equations. Budge up.”

Relenting, Vanya did as he asked. They shared her desk chair, working side by side until Grace called them for dinner, enjoying the rare moment of uninterrupted closeness.

Five finished first – she thought he was too smart for his own good sometimes – but stayed sitting with her. Looping an arm around her shoulders, careful not to jostle her as she wrote, he leaned his head on her shoulder and made suggestions as she revised the paper. English wasn’t his preferred subject, he’d always been better at science and math, but she appreciated his input. He also spared her some embarrassment by catching an obvious spelling error.

What would Mr Paige have thought if she’d turned that in, Vanya scolded herself, quickly erasing the word and rewriting it.

“You seem distracted lately.” Five mused, his warm breath fanning against her cheek as he spoke.

Vanya did her best not the shiver from the sensation, answering him as evenly as she could, “Have I?”

“You have.” He affirmed. Lightly, Five tugged on a strand of her hair. “Is everything okay at school?”

She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes.

Everything was perfect at school with one notable exception. Luckily, it was something she could be honest about.

“I just miss you,” Vanya admitted. “It’s hard being apart so much. I wish you were there with me.”

Five was still for a moment and she feared it was finally the moment he would rebuke her; say she was silly or that he didn’t miss her at all. As always, however, Five proved her insecurities wrong.

“I miss you too.” He said, wrapping his free arm around her waist and pulling her into a hug.

“I’ll try to talk to Dad again,” Five promised, “ask him to transfer you back here. I can make it sound like a security risk or something, but I’ll keep trying until you’re back at home.”

Vanya dropped her pen and returned the embrace, allowing Five to cuddle her closer. Sticking her head under his chin, she mumbled, “You can’t do that, Five. You’re always saying he can’t know how close we are or he’ll use it against us. If you keep asking him about my school, he’ll get suspicious. You know he will.”

He sighed heavily, knowing she – or more accurately, he was right about that. Still, Five hated it when things didn’t go his way.

“I’m sorry, Vanya.” He said, laying his cheek against the crown of her head. “I’m sorry you’re not happy there. But it’s just a couple more years, then we’ll leave this place and nothing will get between us again. Okay?”

“Okay.” She agreed easily. They’d talked about this before but it never failed to thrill her when Five included her in his plans for the future.

“We’ll leave,” Five said, as he had told her so many times, “we’ll get out of here and we’ll move far away from here, where he can’t find us. Okay?”

“Okay.” Vanya concurred, smiling against his throat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has been on my prompts list for almost a year! I had aimed to make it a one-shot but, as is so often the case with my work, that didn't happen. I'm going to try and keep it under 5 chapters though. The next chapter is already at nearly 2500 words and I haven't even gotten to the main part of it yet so... I don't know when I'll get around to posting. It's my birthday tomorrow (well, in a few hours now as it's late) and then I've got a job interview the day after that, so we'll see when I can find time to finish it!
> 
> I hope you all liked this and it's not an original character overload! 💕


	2. Conductor

Five jumped to Allison’s room while Vanya took her evening shower. He knew most of his teammates were gathered there after dinner. Only Luther was missing, digging around for some records to play – as he’d promised them after their mission.

Diego shot him a glare when he came in, always surprised by his teleports. It usually never failed to make Five laugh but he was too concerned to be amused.

“Geesh, Five. Knock would you?” Allison drawled, glancing up from painting her toenails pink – her only option as she couldn’t paint her fingernails without Dad going ballistic. Hands were to stay neatly manicured at all times. They’d seen what happened to Klaus back when he used to chew on them, so they all followed the rule.

“Ben,” Five said, drawing his attention from the book in his hands, “has Vanya said anything to you about school lately?”

“No, why?” Ben replied, sticking his finger between the pages so he wouldn’t lose his place.

“She has a bruise on her arm today. Wouldn’t tell me how she got it.”

“Someone’s picking on Vanya?” Diego reasoned, jumping to the same conclusion Five had. Perhaps he was smarter than he had previously given him credit for.

“What’s happening?” Luther said, walking into the room with his record player and album tucked in hand. “Who’s picking on Vanya?”

“Why would anyone want to hurt Vanya?” Klaus said, placing the stopper on his own nail varnish bottle. His toes were spread wide with balls of cotton, which were stained with the garish green varnish he’d sloppily applied.

“Maybe they heard her play the violin.” Diego snorted.

Five jumped behind him and slapped the back of his head, retracting his earlier thought. Diego truly was an idiot. 

“Ow! What the fuck?”

“Keep it down,” Allison hissed, “you’re all not meant to be in here.”

“What’re you planning to do,” Ben asked, knowing that Five wouldn’t let any harm come to Vanya. Whether it was at the hands of a random stranger or his fellow Academy members: no one was spared his wrath when Vanya was involved. 

“I thought I might go to the school tomorrow and see what’s really happening.” He answered, looking around defiantly as if any one of them would have the nerve to challenge his plan.

“And why do I feel like there’s something you need from us to do that?” Allison said suspiciously.

“I need you to cover for my absence. I’ll try to be back within an hour, but if anyone looks for me…”

Luther interrupted him. “You shouldn’t do this Five. What if there’s a mission? Just tell Dad what’s happening and he’ll take care of it.”

He opened his mouth to retort; didn’t Luther understand that it was because of their Father that Vanya was in this position to begin with? When had he done anything in the interest of protecting his _wards_ – as he so dispassionately referred to them? Given how he treated Vanya, Reginald would probably derive some sick pleasure from finding out she was being bullied at her new school.

“We’ll help,” Diego said before Five could launch into his speech. He was always happy to go against Luther’s suggestion, so he didn’t need convincing.

“Excellent.”

Allison held up a hand before things could progress further. “Wait. What do we get in return?”

Five rolled his eyes. Between Diego’s idiocy, Luther’s deference to Dad and Allison’s self-centredness, his family was nothing if not predictable.

“I’ll help you sneak out to Griddy’s this weekend.”

“And?” She prompted.

“And,” Five sighed, “I’ll pay for whatever you want.”

“Deal.”

“Wait, where are you getting money?” Luther intervened.

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to, Number One.” He snarked before jumping from the room.

Tapping on Vanya’s door, he only went in when she told him he could. She was still towelling her hair dry but was dressed and she beckoned him in with a grin. Despite his suspicions she was having a hard time at this school of hers, she certainly seemed to be smiling more. He liked to think it was a case of absence makes the heart grow fonder.

“Hi.” She greeted warmly. “I was wondering where you were.”

“I was suggesting to the others that we _all_ ,” it was important he stressed that they all would go so she didn’t feel excluded for even a second, “go to Griddy’s this weekend.”

“That sounds fun. A doughnut sounds _so_ good right now.” Vanya said enthusiastically.

He frowned. “Are you hungry?”

She flipped her hair upside down to dry the ends. “Well, a bit but…”

Five jumped, first to the alley behind the house, then the alley behind Griddy’s, then into the kitchen where he grabbed a freshly made doughnut before making the return journey.

“… I have noticed I’ve been hungrier than usual lately. Maybe because of all those gym classes. Oh!” Standing upright, brushing her hair straight with her fingers, Vanya’s eyes grew wide as she saw Five was no longer empty-handed.

He offered up the doughnut: strawberry frosted with sprinkles – her favourite.

“Five.” Vanya beamed, lighting up at his offering. “How did you, okay well I know _how_ , but you, oh, you shouldn’t have. I’m not starving or anything.”

“Good. You won’t mind splitting it then.” Five said, taking a seat at the end of her bed. She sat beside him, their shoulders brushing against each other as she took half from him.

Humming with delight at the first bite, she waited until she’d swallowed to ask, “You paid for it right?”

“I’ll give them a tip to cover it this weekend.” He shrugged.

“ _Five_.” She reprimanded lightly. Resting her head against his shoulder, she couldn’t pretend to be annoyed for long. “Thank you.”

They ate their snack quietly, sitting close together until it was time to get ready for bed.

“I’ll see you after lights out.” Five promised, before jumping to his room to change into his pyjamas.

He only snuck back after Grace had done her rounds of the children’s corridors, teleporting to Vanya’s bedside and clambering onto the bed. She shuffled over to make room for him, holding up the sheets so he could get under them.

Sometimes they would talk for a while when they bunked together, as she often struggled to fall asleep, and Five hoped he could use that time to try to ask again about her bruise. He knew Vanya wasn’t always forthcoming when someone was mean to her – there were so many times he had caught the others picking on her while she silently accepted it and she never complained to him about the cruelty they unleashed on her, no matter how much she endured or how unfairly earned it was. For some reason, she thought it was something she had to put up with, a price for the ordinariness Reginald took sadistic pleasure in reminding her of, no matter how much he tried to convince her otherwise. Ordinariness shouldn’t condemn anyone to such treatment and, regardless, in his mind Vanya was anything but ordinary.

She was his best friend, the person he liked most in the house and beyond it, and he didn’t like to see her treated badly. In an ideal world, Five wished Vanya would have the confidence to stand up for herself, but that was unlikely while they lived within the Academy walls; Reginald always belittling her and telling her how little she was worth.

He tried all the time to convince her otherwise, to show that she meant the world to him. He wasn’t always successful,, but he had hoped they were close enough that she would finally tell him when something upset her. If she couldn’t fight the battle for herself, he would always be willing to do it for her. She had to know that.

“Vanya,” He said, once they’d settled down. Tonight, they were facing each other with Vanya’s head tucked under his chin and her arm wrapped tightly around his waist. He held her too and pulled her closer as he continued, “If you were having a hard time at school, you’d tell me, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course I would,” Vanya replied, sounding confused.

“Because you know I’d help you with anything. _Right_?” Five urged.

Her head moved, perhaps as a nod, but he couldn’t tell.

“Vanya.” He prompted.

“Well…”

“Well, what?” Five said, trying to sound as gentle as he could even as he braced himself for the story she would give. His temper always seemed to get away from him where Vanya was concerned but, the sensitive creature that she was, if he did get angry she’d presume it was because of her. He never wanted her to think that. So when she told him, he’d be supportive and patient – gently getting the information he needed so he could find whoever had dared bruise her and enact an appropriate vengeance on her behalf.

She sighed tiredly, burrowing her head ever deeper into the crook of his neck. Vanya did that more often lately, and he couldn’t say he minded.

“I am finding my math classes a bit hard.” She confessed.

Five deflated. “What?”

“I think I’m just used to how Mum teaches it. She was always so focused on theory but our teacher always uses practical examples and, well, I’m sure I’d get it eventually but…”

“I’ll help.” He said.

He would. However, he could.

“Thanks, Five.” Vanya breathed, any remaining tension in her body ebbing away.

“But about your bruise, are you sure you don’t remember how you got it?” He pushed, still determined to get the story.

“Vanya?”

Craning his head back, he saw she was soundly asleep.

Strange, he mused. She’d had insomnia for as long as he could remember. Still, he leaned forward and held her close. He could ask her about her bruise again in the morning, for now she clearly needed to sleep.

* * *

Vanya moaned softly, slowly waking up in his arms. She had slept undisturbed. Another peculiarity, Five thought, as he was often woken in the middle of the night by one of her nightmares – the kind that jolted her awake but the details of which escaped her within seconds of coming around.

He presumed the gym classes she’d mentioned were the cause, wearing her out and finally allowing her to sleep peacefully. Years ago, when they first started sharing a bed after nightmares had kept her up for three days straight, he’d researched insomnia and found that exercise might help. So, Five tried to include Vanya in their practice sessions. Not with anything dangerous, like weapons training, but he didn’t understand why she couldn’t learn a bit of basic self-defence. Exercise was meant to be healthy. Yet, like most aspects of their lives, Vanya was excluded.

He’d still taught her a few things though, on the rare occasions they could get some privacy. Made her practice them ever since. Just enough that if anyone tried to get near her, she could put some space between them and call for help. She’d never used the knowledge though, pointing out that if Father found out about it, he’d punish Five for teaching her. So, Five took it upon himself to be her protector for the foreseeable future. Holding Vanya close at night to shield her from her nightmares or launching some pranks on his teammates to punish them for their cruelty towards her.

Maybe if she was in gym classes now, Vanya would be able to use what he’d taught her though, saying she’d learnt it at school instead of from him.

He frowned, maybe she wouldn’t need him anymore.

“Five.” Vanya breathed against his neck, squinting into the morning light. Her fingers twitched against the fabric of his pyjama shirt, always trying to pull him closer in these rare, quiet moments.

Hopefully, she’d still want him though.

“I’m here.” He replied, bumping his nose against her forehead. He was tempted, as he often was, to drop a kiss there, but he held himself back. “Did you sleep well?”

She hummed happily. “Do we have to get up yet?”

“In a minute.”

Groaning unhappily, Five had to press his lips tightly together to repress a snigger.

“One day from now,” he started, scooting down the bed so their faces were level, “we’ll be able to sleep in as long as we want. No morning alarms. No sneaking around.”

“That sounds nice.” Vanya agreed, smiling dreamily. “Can’t we go now?”

He wished they could. They deserved their freedom.

“Soon. As soon as we can.” Five promised, unable to resist pressing a kiss to her head then.

Her skin warmed under his touch, but she didn’t pull away, so he considered that a good sign.

“When we’re eighteen?”

“Yeah,” he groaned, “it’s only a couple more years.”

They’d turned sixteen just before Vanya was sent to school, so it was less than two years now. As soon as the clock struck twelve on the morning of their birthday, Five was grabbing their bags and getting them both the hell out of there.

He’d already figured with his notoriety he could easily get a job in private security, which – from the enquiries he had conducted speaking to guards around the city – often came with a signing bonus which would get them somewhere to live. With his skill set, he might even be able to earn enough for Vanya to go to college. If that was what she wanted, at least. Personally, Five liked the idea of saving up some money then finding somewhere far away from the city and, by extension, Reginald and the Umbrella Academy. Somewhere Vanya could be happy living beyond their shadow; somewhere with him.

The morning alarm went off, drawing a curse from Five. He’d meant to ask about her arm again, not daydream about something which was years away from happening.

“See you at breakfast.” He said, throwing the blankets back and admitting a chill to their warm bodies.

Laughing at Vanya’s indignant groan, Five jumped to his room and hurriedly dressed. While he was at it, he dug around for some of his casual clothes which he would need when he went to Vanya’s school later.

Breakfast was an uneventful affair, all of them too ingrained in the habits Reginald had instilled in them to speak to one another while his record droned on in the background. When he felt it was safe though, he would peek over at Vanya; much in the same way that Luther looked at Allison or Klaus glanced at Ben. A fleeting look, just long enough for him to make sure she was all right.

Her bruise was covered over by her long grey sweater, the only one not dressed in standard issue uniform, and he wondered if there was anything else she was concealing from him.

When they’d filed into the dining room, just before Dad had arrived, Ben attempted to ask her about school – incentivised by their conversation last night – but she’d barely spoken a word before Reginald walked into the room and an exhaustive silence befell them all.

As soon as they were done, Grace shepherded Vanya out of the room towards the kitchen. Reginald never let her leave by the front door, afraid she would be seen and questions raised, so she had to go out the back into the alleyway where Abhijat would wait for her.

He’d been surprised yesterday by Vanya’s affectionate nickname for Reginald’s driver and sometimes bodyguard. Sure, they spent lots of time together since the start of school term, but Vanya wasn’t exactly the most sociable type. He’d always thought they would spend their journeys in silence; as the Umbrella Academy did when riding in the car to and from missions. It pleased him to think that others were starting to realise what he had always seen – that they could see Vanya past her powerlessness. He’d have to be nicer to Abhijat in future for his friendliness towards her.

He watched her go before glancing at Ben. He nodded back, prepared to cover for his absence.

Five would put in some work in the training room first, but after that, it was Diego’s individual training and he would have an opportunity to slip away with no one noticing. Then he could get to Vanya’s school and really find out what was going on. He could probably get away for a few hours, perhaps enough to sneak her out for lunch and give her a respite from the school.

She never told him much about it, except that she found math hard and the cafeteria food bad, so he wasn’t entirely sure what to expect as he approached it later that morning. The name of the school was written out in big block letters though, so he figured he was in the right place.

Glancing around, he walked around the back to try to avoid too much attention. He’d dressed down and, when he was apart from the other Academy members, he wasn’t often recognised outside, but he still wanted to be cautious.

One of the main arguments he’d made to Reginald against sending Vanya to school was that if anyone found out she was connected to them, she would become a target. A target who cannot protect herself and from who they’d be too far to shield from harm. Reginald’s lacklustre response was that she had a cover story and no one would know about her connection to the Umbrella Academy.

Hardly reassuring.

Vanya was better off at the Academy. Granted, she was side-lined most of the time, which never failed to pain him. He could handle his teammates when they were cruel however, and they had more opportunities there for him to sneak her away and cheer her up. Here she was alone, and he hated that.

Opening one of the back doors, he glanced at the nearest room number and tried to get his bearings from that. He knew Vanya had biology at this time and, from looking at her timetable, knew she was in room twelve of the Ortega building, which he should be in if the sign was correct.

Walking along the hall, keeping an eye on the room numbers, his eyes trailed over several bulletin boards advertising events at the school. Several football matches were coming up which he couldn’t imagine Vanya would like, but there was a harvest dance he figured she might be interested in. He wondered if anyone else had asked her yet and shuddered at the idea.

No, Vanya would have told him if that had happened.

Anyway, Five couldn’t imagine Reginald would let her go if she asked. Although, with the help of the others, he could probably sneak them out if she set her heart on it. He wasn’t particularly fond of the idea of spending time in a room packed full of children, but he’d danced with Vanya before and they’d both enjoyed it.

Further along were sign-up sheets for all the school clubs. If he’d lingered longer, he would have seen Vanya’s name under the announcement for the new cheerleader squad, but he wasn’t interested. Instead, he raked his eyes over the poster for the school’s winter play. It was a performance of _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ , which he knew Vanya had read before but never seen.

She had spoken once about how nice it would be to see some of the plays she’d read performed, but Reginald would never allow it. Rewards were given to the children who made him look good, something the ordinary one could never do. Five had watched before when Vanya tried to ask for things, always cruelly shot down as Reginald reminded her of her worthlessness. After a few times of watching, Five had taken it upon himself to try to get her whatever she wanted and was denied.

Maybe he should try to sneak her to a theatre someday.

Looking over the information, Five searched for Vanya’s name as he knew she was one of the musicians who would perform alongside the performance. His gaze became stuck on the cast list however. As always, Vanya had a tendency to stand out to his eyes and there her name was, matched up to the role of Mustardseed, one of the fairies.

Leaning closer, slightly disbelieving, he confirmed it was her name. It seemed unlikely there would be anyone else called Vanya Hargreeves at the school, and yet how could it be? Vanya was his best friend. If she was going to be in a play she would have told him so he could come to watch.

There had to be some kind of mistake.

More resolute to find her, Five hastened along the hall. He eventually found the right room and loitered beside a water fountain for Vanya to appear. They were nearly at the hour, so she should be out any minute.

While he waited, he glanced at some assignments pinned up on the wall and was surprised to see Vanya’s name again. She’d been named pupil of the week in the science faculty. Again he was stunned: how much was she not telling him?

The bell rang shrilly throughout the corridors and, after a moment of muffled noises behind the doors, students poured out from every door. A crowd engulfed him, making it even more unlikely he would be recognised. It also made it easier to sneak up behind Vanya as she filed into the throng of people, where he grabbed her elbow.

She did a double-take when she glanced at him, a blush rapidly filling her cheeks.

“ _Five_?” Vanya squeaked, looking around furtively. “What are you doing here?”

Grinning, he led her away from the crowd and back outside. Slipping his hand down her arm to link their fingers together, he wove them through the groups walking to their next class and towards what looked to be the back of the gym.

Using their joint hands, Five brought Vanya closer to face him.

She continued to look around but, once she was convinced they were alone, Vanya fixed her eyes on him and asked again, “What are you doing here, Five? How did you get out of the Academy?”

“I came to see you. I was able to slip out between training sessions.” He answered succinctly, smirking proudly. He enjoyed any opportunity to show off, but especially for Vanya and Five hoped she was impressed by his ability to escape undetected.

“Can I ask my questions now, because I have quite a few?”

“Oh?” She said, trying to sound nonchalant, but her wide eyes gave her away.

So, Vanya had been hiding things from him.

“Well, erm, I have a study session before lunch.”

Five rearranged his earlier plan. “I suppose it can wait until tonight.” He mused. “I’m just surprised you didn’t mention you were taking part in the school play.”

Her eyes grew impossibly wider, almost shimmering under the afternoon sun with guilt, and, unable to help himself, Five stretched out his free hand to cup her cheek in comfort, lightly stroking his thumb over her cheekbone.

“I’m not upset, Vanya.” He assured. Too many times in his life had he seen Vanya look unjustly guilty and, even if he wasn’t happy she had hidden things from him, he still didn’t like to see the expression on her face. Knowing his best friend, Five was sure she wouldn’t lie without reason anyway. “I’m just surprised. I would have thought you’d be happy about it. You know I want you to be happy.”

Vanya ducked her head and drew in a trembling breath. Five waited patiently, hoping she would tell him about it when they were rudely interrupted.

“Vanya?” Niko said, surprised to see her. He’d just walked around the corner, looking for somewhere to sneak a cigarette between classes.

“Niko?” Vanya replied, taken aback by his sudden appearance. Five looked at her curiously as Niko stared at her. This Niko was obviously curious who was visiting her and wouldn’t mistake him as a fellow student; he knew everyone in their year. But she couldn’t tell him the truth, Reginald had given her clear instructions that she couldn’t share any information about her connection to the Academy and the other Hargreeves.

Five wondered who this Niko was to Vanya. Like the play, she’d never mentioned this, and he didn’t like to think of the reasons why she could have kept this boy from him.

Perhaps Vanya wouldn’t need him to take her to the harvest dance. Maybe this boy was going to take her from him.

Frowning, Five tried to identify the feeling in his chest, not sure he had ever felt it before. He would have known it was jealousy if he had ever had cause to be jealous before but, for as long as Five could remember, Vanya had been his. He’d never had to share her with anyone before. No one else in the house paid her much attention, except possibly Ben, but they were only friends. The way this boy eyed Five’s hand on Vanya’s cheek made him think he wasn’t interested in friendship.

Glaring at _Niko_ , Five leaned in close to Vanya, dropping his hand from her cheek only to plant it on her waist and pull her in even closer. Whispering in her ear, he said, “I’ll see you at home, okay?”

Five lingered there until Vanya replied, well aware that to Niko’s point of view their proximity would seem intimate. She nodded jerkily, a pale blush blooming on the apples of her cheeks. Five swiped a thumb over one of them again before he pulled away, happy to see her try to lean into his retreating touch.

“I’m looking forward to hearing about this play tonight.” He said, giving her a smirk as he backed off.

Grinning widely at Niko as he walked past, Five shot her one last smile over his shoulder as he left. Instead of beginning his jumps back home, however, he found a new hiding spot where he waited until Vanya went to lunch. Then he decided to do some more investigating.

* * *

“Hi, guys,” Vanya said, slightly breathless as she slid into her usual seat.

“Hey, where have you been?” Louisa asked. “You were right behind me when we left biology, then you just disappeared.”

Niko took a seat beside her, his eyes lighting up. “Hasn’t she told you?”

Vanya tried to suppress a groan.

“Told us what?” Ellen asked, glancing at Vanya confusedly.

“About her secret boyfriend.”

While everyone gasped and made sounds of excitement, Vanya tried to say it wasn’t true, but no one was listening.

“I caught them around the back of the gym. He could barely keep his hands off her.” Niko said teasingly.

Vanya gaped at him. That wasn’t – they _didn’t_ , they _couldn’t_ – that wasn’t true!

“Don’t be embarrassed.” Niko urged, misreading the cause of her mortification. “He was cute! Really cute. Kinda reminded me of one of those Umbrella Academy boys.”

Louisa eagerly asked which one, but Gabriel, Niko’s boyfriend, pouted. “You like those boys? Over me? But they’re so preppy.” He whined.

“Never, babe. You’re the most handsome guy I know.” Niko assured, leaning over the table to press a quick kiss to his lips. Vanya averted her eyes from the display, still unused to such open affection, but everyone was too focused on his description of her _mystery boyfriend_ to notice.

“Dark hair, taller than Vanya. Reminded me a bit of that teleporter.”

“Number Five.” Gabriel quickly supplied.

“Now who’s obsessed?” Niko retorted.

“That’s such an odd name,” Ellen said, which everyone else immediately agreed with. “Who gives a kid a number for a name?”

“Wacky rich people.” Louisa answered with a snicker.

“Oh yeah.”

“He sounds nice anyway,” Ellen said. “Why didn’t you mention him before?”

Vanya took a large bite out of her sandwich so she wouldn’t have to answer. She should correct them – they were her friends, she wanted to tell them the truth – but Father had sternly told her to stick to the story he’d enrolled her under. She was an only child with no connection to the city’s most famous Hargreeves.

“You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want.” Louisa excused, patting her hand supportively. “I know you’re a private person. Tell us when you’re ready.”

The others nodded, but the matter wasn’t dropped like Vanya hoped – they continued to talk about the Academy.

“I always wondered what it would be like having powers like they do.” Gabriel mused. “I’d love to be able to fly.”

“I’d want Five’s power. Teleporting everywhere would be so much fun.” Niko said. “Plus then I’d be able to see you whenever I want.”

Gabriel awed.

“I’d like to be as strong as Luther,” Ellen said. “The rumours are cool too though.”

“Yeah, but can you imagine how hard it must be being the only girl on the team?” Louisa mused sympathetically. “Having no other girl to talk to? It must suck.”

Vanya’s heart plummeted like a stone as her old jealousies reared their ugly head.

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong about hanging out with guys,” Niko complained.

“Yeah, as friends. But they’re all meant to be a family, aren’t they? I’d hate having loads of siblings, but not _one_ sister. Sounds lonely.” Louisa argued.

Vanya took another big bite of her sandwich, hoping no one would ask for her opinion.

“Are they really a family though? I always remembered their first mission, and they were called – what was it, the guy with the monocle said it, he said it really weird like – like the first class. Or something like that. Like they’re a school.” Niko tried to explain.

“Inaugural,” Ellen recalled, rolling her eyes. “My Mom had to explain what it meant. That guy always sounds so pretentious. He was talking on the news the other week and I hit the mute button so I wouldn’t have to listen to him.”

“Yeah, it must suck having to live with him. And they’re always having to wear those odd school uniforms,” Gabriel added with a shudder.

“Thank god our school doesn’t make us wear those.” Louisa groaned. “Can you imagine? I’d feel like such a dork.”

“We’d pull it off, wouldn’t we Vanya?” Niko asserted, slinging an arm around her shoulders. “With our cheekbones, we can pull off anything.”

Vanya chuckled uncomfortably, wondering what her friends would think if they ever learned she had once worn that uniform before her expulsion. They never could know though, so she resolutely changed the subject. “So did you hear about that field trip to Washington DC?”

Outside, Five stepped onto a low wall to take a look through the canteen windows at Vanya with her friends. While he was happy to see her smiling, he was still confused when he walked away to head home. If Vanya was so happy, why would she lie to him about what her school was like? And if her friends were nice, as they seemed gathered around the table, how did she get that bruise? And why the _hell_ did Niko have his arm around her?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had originally planned to update my other TUA work (Experiment 10080) before this one but then the first chapter of this story got more comments than the four chapters of Experiment 10080 combined and more kudos, despite being read by half as many people. Which was impressive. And a little intimidating. But mostly amazing. The response from you all was just incredible and honestly I can't tell you how happy it made me. Saying that, I hope after your positive response to the first chapter the second chapter lives up to that. And I'll apologise now as I really need to update Experiment 10080 next, so you might have to wait a bit for chapter three! 
> 
> Have a good weekend 💗


	3. Electrode

“Remember to bring in your permission slips for the field trip to Washington DC next week. You will need to pay for your rail fare. If you need help subsidising this fee, speak to the front office.” Frank, Vanya’s English teacher, reminded. He was reading aloud the school announcement that he’d been given by one of the hall monitors. “Did everyone hear that all right? Yes? Good, now, onto the lesson. This week we will start looking at George Orwell and you all should have read the first two chapters of Animal Farm in preparation for discussion.”

Ellen was sitting by her side, finding the class mind-numbingly dull: she always preferred PE or a class where she could be active in some way. Sitting still and reading a book wasn’t her speed. Vanya on the other hand usually loved her English classes, but Five’s unexpected appearance had left her distracted. Flipping the book open to the right section, she tried to concentrate, but Vanya couldn’t focus on the words in front of her. She kept wondering about what she would say when she saw Five again. Despite fretting over it throughout lunch and orchestra practice, she still had no idea. Vanya just hoped Five wasn’t mad about her lying to him and that he’d let her explain why. He must think she was so silly.

On Vanya’s other side sat James, who she also shared biology with. Usually, they got along fine, but ever since Gabriel suggested he might have a crush on her she found herself feeling a little awkward in his presence. It was ludicrous really; why would anyone like mousy little Number Seven?

“Are we all working together?” James asked after Frank told them to split into groups to discuss the theme of class in the opening chapters.

“Yeah,” Ellen said disinterestedly, batting a balled-up piece of paper between two hands instead of looking at the handout sheet. Vanya also agreed and set to the task at hand. She could worry about Five when she got home. Not to mention how she would get Father to approve a trip to Washington DC. After his initial purchase, Reginald was always unwilling to spend any extra money on them unless they provided something of worth in return. The idea of him allowing _her_ a fun excursion seemed as unlikely as someone being attracted to her.

Vanya and James made notes from their discussion and, as some of Frank’s best students, they predictably finished the worksheet before the allotted time.

“So, is your boyfriend going to meet you after school?” Ellen asked her while they waited for the other groups to finish, interested to learn more about him. Interested in anything really, other than studying.

“Boyfriend?” James repeated, glancing sharply at Vanya for confirmation. He seemed almost – Vanya grappled for the right word to describe his expression – _sad_ _?_ No, that couldn’t be right.

“He’s not my boyfriend.” She muttered, trying to will away a blush.

Ellen mistook her embarrassment for disappointment. “Oh, that’s too bad. Well, the harvest dance is coming up. Maybe he’ll ask you to it?”

“I don’t think people who don’t come here can go,” James said. “Which school does he go to?”

Vanya panicked. “Err, oh, just some private school.”

James looked even more put out, but Ellen squeezed her forearm encouragingly. “Don’t worry. From what Niko said, it sounds like he really likes you. I’m sure it’ll work out.”

She nodded noncommittally, feeling mortified at what they were suggesting, and was grateful when Frank called them all to attention.

Abhijat was waiting in the drop-off zone outside the school. As she strapped herself into the seat beside him, he asked about her day. Answering as best she could while her stomach twisted with nerves, she only relaxed when Abhijat turned the conversation towards the Academy. “It will be quiet inside,” he said as they pulled up around the back of the mansion, “the other children are out with Sir Reginald. There was a mission.”

“Shouldn’t you be with them?” She asked, knowing Abhijat was Father’s bodyguard first and foremost.

“They’re going straight on to a press conference. Sir Reginald hired a private car to transport them and I will pick them up from the event once they’re done.”

Nodding, Vanya felt a little lighter as she walked into the Academy. Stopping to eat her afternoon snack, her stomach growling ferociously as Grace placed it in front of her, she breached the topic of her school’s field trip with Pogo when he wandered in for a glass of water.

“Good afternoon, Miss Vanya,” Pogo greeted warmly. “How was school?”

“Great.” She responded. “My civics teacher is organising a trip to the capital to tour some buildings and learn more about governance. It’s a shame I won’t be able to go.” Vanya sighed, picking at her food despite still feeling hungry.

As she hoped, Pogo’s eyes widened in sympathy. “Why not?”

“Parents need to approve the trip. And pay for the train tickets. Father would never let me go.”

“I am certain he would approve. It is educational after all.”

Vanya looked at him uncertainly. “Not when he finds out how much it costs. I couldn’t even convince him to buy some new sheet music the other month, and that only cost a couple of dollars.”

Pogo pursed his lips, recognising the truth. The few scant things in Vanya’s possessions that could be considered frivolous had been purchased by Pogo or _procured_ by Five. Reginald only bought essentials, the clothes on her back and the food Mom served them. The closest Reginald had ever come to giving her a gift was when he allowed Vanya to take his violin. Something already in his possession and which he had threatened more than once to take back if he felt she wasn’t dedicating herself enough to practice.

“If he will consent, I will cover the cost of the tickets,” Pogo assured, smiling at Vanya’s excited expression.

“You will?”

He nodded. “The other children have visited the capital, it seems only fair that you should too. It will be an excellent learning opportunity, especially with a teacher to guide you.”

“Thank you, Pogo.” Vanya beamed. “That’s so kind of you.”

Her friends had been so disappointed when she said she might not go. Vanya couldn’t wait to tell them she could.

“Of course, Miss Vanya. Now finish your snack, you’d best get started on your homework.”

Wolfing down the last of her meal, she gathered up her bags and headed upstairs. In the time it took for the Umbrella Academy to return home, Vanya had finished all of her homework, practised her lines for the play in the mirror and had dinner. Grace placed her in the main dining room, despite being the only one there, and left her to eat alone. As Mom trusted her to manage her own medication now, it was easy to skip her evening pill without Grace stood monitoring her.

At first, she wasn’t sure how she would react to the lowered dose, but with each day it felt like she had more energy; which really came into use during cheerleader practice. Vanya had actually accomplished a backflip during their practice session, something she never would have thought she could do. Not that she was ever given the chance before to try. There had been no side effects either. If anything her mood seemed better than usual. Maybe she should try giving them up completely. She could flush any untaken tablets down the toilet so Father would never know. Once she’d been off them for a while, she could confess and show him how unnecessary they were. Perhaps he would take her seriously once he saw how she functioned without them. She was the only child in the house to require anxiety medication, despite being exposed to the least horror. It was no wonder Father thought so lowly of her.

Night was setting in by the time Vanya finished her meal and Grace sent her upstairs. She was just starting to worry about the Umbrella Academy’s mission – the oldest worry of her life: that one of them wouldn’t come home – when the front door opened. From upstairs, she couldn’t hear any calls for medical assistance, which she took as a good sign. They had to carry out a debrief before they could settle down for the night though, so Vanya picked up her violin to pass the time with until Five came to see her. She chose to practice one of the pieces for the school play, determined to perform it perfectly. By the time the Academy filed down the children’s corridor, she had just started the second piece.

“Lay off the cat tonight, Vanya.” Diego snarked as he walked past. “I think you’ve strangled it enough this week.”

As if he’d hit a switch, she stopped playing. It was only right after all. They’d had a much harder day than her. Still, she thought rebelliously. It wasn’t as though her playing was _that_ bad. She never would have secured a place on the school orchestra if it was. And Louisa, who regularly heard her practice for the play, always said it sounded lovely.

Diego wouldn’t know good music if it hit him in the face, Vanya decided. But if Diego was upstairs, it meant Five would follow him soon. 

Closing the door fully so the hallway cameras wouldn’t catch him teleporting into her room, she took a seat at the end of her bed and wrung her hands as she waited for him. With nothing to occupy her, all of her worries from earlier came flooding back. She really hoped he wasn’t upset with her for keeping the truth from him. It was only a small lie, and her intentions were good. Plus Five hadn’t _seemed_ that mad at school. Quite the opposite actually, when he pulled her close, whispering in her ear and trailing his hand over her waist, waiting for her to answer him before letting her go. Twisting her fingers even tighter, Vanya wondered how he would react if she told him her friends now thought he was her boyfriend because of his little stunt. He would probably scoff or roll his eyes or make some joke. She tried not to feel disappointed; it was her friends’ silly idea, not hers.

By the time Five arrived in a spark of blue, she had fretted about it so much she almost leapt out of her skin.

“Sorry, Ven.” He apologised, reaching out his hands to steady her as she nearly fell off the bed. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You didn’t.”

Five raised a brow.

“Well. I mean, I was daydreaming and, oh, well you just caught me off guard. That was all.” Vanya rambled. “How was the mission?”

“Boring.” He declared, taking a seat beside her. Their shoulders brushed as he settled down, and she tried her best not to jump again. “The press conference lasted twice as long as the mission.”

“Is everyone okay?”

“Yeah. We’re fine. How about you? How was your day?”

Hoping to distract him, Vanya announced, “Pogo said he’ll try to get permission for me to go on a field trip next week.”

“Where to?”

“Washington DC.”

“Are you staying over?”

“No, we leave first thing and come back at night.”

His concern melted away. “Do you need money for it? I can give you some.”

“No, it’s fine. Pogo said he’d pay for the tickets and Mom will pack me a lunch.”

“Take some anyway.” Five encouraged. “Just in case anything happens and you need to get a cab or make a phone call. Okay?”

“Okay.” She agreed with a sigh. She’d long since given up on trying to reprimand him for stealing money from Father’s vault.

“So, did you have rehearsals for the play today? It’s for A Midsummer’s Night Dream, right?” He said, assertively changing the subject to what he wanted to talk about.

Vanya wanted to groan but managed to answer his question with a simple, “Yes.”

Instead of pressing her for more, Five just fixed her with a look.

Quickly caving, she continued, “Yes. I’m in the school play. I’m playing a fairy. I was going to tell you about it – I _wanted_ to tell you about it – but I was worried you’d think… I mean I thought it was silly.”

“No. It’s not silly and you know I wouldn’t think that. What did you worry I’d think?”

Huffing her bangs out of her face, Vanya tried to explain what she had been thinking. Why it had seemed like such a good idea to keep her extracurricular activities a secret instead of being honest with the one person she always told the truth to.

“I miss you, Five. I know we see each other when you’re able to sneak in here at night but I miss getting to spend more time with you. I’d still rather have classes here than go to school, even though I love my friends and enjoy being there so much.” She said, focusing on her hands. “When we first found out I was going there, we were both angry about being split up. And I didn’t want you to think I was having so much fun that I’d stop missing you.”

He sat quietly for a second before declaring, “That’s stupid.”

Vanya rolled her eyes.

“I mean it. I’m not going to get jealous because you have friends.”

She shot him a disbelieving look. “Then why did you look so mad when you met Niko?”

Five did his best not to glower. “I wasn’t angry, I was surprised. You’ve not talked about him before.”

“Perhaps,” Vanya suggested tentatively, “if you ever come back, then maybe you can meet the rest of my friends?”

His face softened. “I’d like that.”

She started to smile until she remembered what her friends thought of Five.

“What? What is it?”

Sheepishly, Vanya told him about her conversation at lunch.

“They think I’m your boyfriend?”

“I’m so sorry, I couldn’t tell them who you really are – I’m not supposed to talk about the Academy to _anyone_.” She apologised, tripping over her words.

“That makes sense.” Five said slowly. “If they ask again, just say that I’m your boyfriend. Then I have an excuse to visit you at school again. Unless you mind?”

Willing herself not to blush, she whispered, “No, I don’t mind.”

“Good. That’s that then.”

They sat awkwardly in silence until, unable to stand it any longer, Vanya blurted out, “If I’m being honest now, you should probably know I’m on the cheerleading squad too.”

Turning to look at her, Five’s eyes seemed to darken for a moment and, unused to the expression, Vanya shrunk from his side – taken aback, not in fear but by the strange sensation it seemed to invoke in the pit of her stomach – but as soon as she moved he came back to himself.

“That’s how you got the bruise?” He realised.

“Yeah.”

“Oh.” He said quietly, still looking at her curiously. Did he not believe her?

“I got a uniform, but I’m keeping it in my locker so it stays safe. I don’t want anyone here finding it.” She explained, leaning against him once more. It felt comfortable there.

Swallowing audibly, Five mumbled in agreement. “That seems sensible.”

“So,” Five said, having to clear his throat, “they’re no more big secrets you’re keeping from me?”

She was about to say no when it occurred to her that wasn’t entirely true.

“Ven?”

Grimacing, Vanya admitted, “I stopped taking a second pill.”

When Five looked confused, she explained. “The pills I take for anxiety. They can make me drowsy and I wanted to do well at school, so I halved my dosage to only one a day.”

“And you feel okay?”

“More than okay. I have more energy and things feel…” she struggled for a word to describe it, “clearer.”

“That’s good. Maybe you don’t need to take them anymore?” He suggested with a smile. Somewhere deep down it had always felt like a failure to him that Vanya needed to take anxiety medication. Not hers, of course, but his. It was like he wasn’t doing a good enough job to look after her – to shield her from the root of her fears: Dad and his teammates.

She shrugged, always wary of defying Father. “Maybe.”

Brushing a strand of hair out of her face, Five said, “I just want you to be happy, Vanya.”

“I am.” She replied, meaning it. Five had always brought out the best in her but, with her friends added to the mix, for the first time in her life everything felt right with the world. And, while it would be nice if Allison could treat her like a sister or the other boys would stop slamming doors in her face, it didn’t pain her as much as it used to.

“I’m glad.” He said, his hand drifting down from her hair to her face, stroking her cheek tenderly. She happily melted into his touch, always responsive to it. “I like seeing you happy.”

“Me too.” She shook her head slightly. “I mean, I like seeing _you_ happy. Too.”

Five smirked, enjoying seeing her flustered. “I got it the first time.”

“I wish you could go there too, I bet you’d like it there.”

Vanya didn’t really think so – the lessons would be too easy for someone as clever as him – but it would be nice, having him there with her. Instead of out on missions, risking his life with Vanya utterly powerless to protect him.

“If it meant being with you every day, I think I would too.” He said, leaning over her so he could whisper it into her ear. She could feel her cheeks warming into what was no doubt a vivid pink in response to his proximity and, eager to hide that, Vanya ducked her head.

“I should go get ready for bed.” Five said. He ran his thumb over her brow one last time before pulling away. “I’ll be back after lights out.”

“Okay.”

Five pushed himself off the bed and disappeared in a flash of blue.

As soon as she was alone, Vanya fell back on the bed. Pressing a hand to her chest, she tried to keep her heart from racing out of her chest.

* * *

“Here is your lunch,” Grace said, handing over the neatly bagged meal. “I added an extra carton of juice for the train ride.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“Have a pleasant trip, Miss Vanya.” Pogo bade her.

“Yes, dear. I want to hear all about it when you come home.”

Waving them goodbye, Vanya hastened to the car. Abhijat would drive her straight to the train station where she would meet the rest of her civics class.

She had already said goodbye to Five before they went downstairs for breakfast, but she still looked back at the mansion before they drove off, hopeful for another glance. He rewarded her, standing in one of the upstairs windows, where he’d pushed the pane up so he could lean out. They smiled at each other just before Abhijat turned the corner out of the back alley.

That morning, Five had given her a small purse to put in her backpack which contained several rolled-up bills. “Just in case.” He said, putting it straight into her bag so she couldn’t try to turn it away. “I’ll feel better knowing you have some spare money.”

She hadn’t been able to argue with that and settled for thanking him with a hug. When they were younger, Five had always shied away from her hugs – he’d thought them unnecessary – but now he never hesitated to pull her close. His touch was becoming more confident too, especially since she started going to school and they spent less time together. Threading his hands into the ends of her hair or wrapping his arms firmly around her waist. Before he was usually the first to pull away, now Vanya had to persuade him to let go. Five closed the space between them whenever possible, always eager to have her nearby. Every time he helped with her homework, Five insisted they share a seat, flinging an arm around her waist to keep her beside him. Last time, he’d tugged her into his side so firmly she’d landed on his lap. Vanya had nearly turned scarlet from head to toe but Five wasn’t remotely embarrassed. Still, he had let her go when she moved away; too conscious of what was happening to surrender to it.

He was so casual about it. While Vanya felt like a raw nerve, he lounged beside her without a care. Now he was giving her money because he was worried about her safety. It warmed her heart and left her bewildered, wondering whether it was a case of absence making the heart grow fonder or if Five was taking their act a little too seriously.

Her confusion wasn’t helped by her friends’ constant questions about her “new boyfriend”. Hopefully, they wouldn’t bring the subject up during the train ride.

Louisa and Ellen were already at the station. They’d had a sleepover on Sunday – which Vanya had again apologetically turned down an invitation to – and Ellen’s mom had dropped them both off. Niko and Gabriel soon met them, and James eventually joined the group. Once their civics teacher had marked everyone present on the register, they were ushered to the platform and boarded the train.

“So what did you and your boyfriend get up to at the weekend?” Louisa asked, leaning over the back of her seat so she could see her. She was sat in the aisle in front of Vanya and James.

“Yeah, we were so sad you couldn’t come out with us,” Niko complained, sitting in the opposite aisle. “We totally need to double date!”

“Totally.” Gabriel agreed. “Finn sounds really great.”

Vanya tried not to grimace. She had to call Five by the alias Finn after she almost used his actual name at school. The name Five was a little too unique and easily connected to the Umbrella Academy, so she’d quickly diverted onto the first name she could think of starting with an ‘F’. Finn didn’t suit Five in the slightest. It was a struggle not to cringe whenever she said it, but her own lack of imagination had trapped her and she had to continue to use it.

“We just hung out. He helped me with my homework, but we didn’t do anything special.” She said. “So, how long’s the train journey?”

The teachers got them all sitting properly in their seats once the train departed the station, which meant Vanya was left speaking to James for most of the journey. Her English teacher Frank was checking on the students in their carriage and stopped at their aisle to ask how she was finding the current reading material.

“Has he worked at the school long?” She asked James once he had left.

“No, actually he started just before you did.” He said. “He’s way better than the old teacher. She was so old. She used to fall asleep in the middle of classes so we learnt nothing.”

“I’m glad he transferred here then. He’s definitely my favourite teacher.”

“Yeah, he’s my favourite teacher too,” James said eagerly. “Have you got a partner for the mid-term project yet? I know it hasn’t been announced yet, but I was thinking we could work on it together? You enjoyed Brave New World too, right? We could focus on that.”

She happily agreed. They were both the top-scoring students in Frank’s class – the private education she had received up until then having some advantages – and they could turn out a great project together.

They chatted idly about what they’d been reading until about halfway through the trip when Louisa convinced him to switch seats so they could talk to different people.

Once she had eased into the seat, she leaned into Vanya’s side and whispered into her ear, “You know he still has a crush on you, right?”

Vanya’s mouth fell open. “That’s not true.”

Louisa shrugged primly. “Just don’t let Finn find out. He might get jealous.”

“He wouldn’t.” She argued, struggling to voice her feelings aloud without wrecking the fragile story she had built about her life outside of school. “I don’t think he’d mind. I don’t think he likes me as much as I like him.”

“Vanya,” Louisa said, looking at her seriously, “I know you said you haven’t kissed yet but, from what you _have_ told me, it sounds like he can barely keep his hands off you. And he wouldn’t have snuck into our school if he wasn’t crazy about you. Although if you really feel so insecure about it, maybe you should talk with him? I bet if you asked he’d tell you how much he likes you.”

While she nodded meekly, Vanya wanted to disagree. Her friend couldn’t understand, not without knowing the truth. Five didn’t act that way because he _liked_ her, he just did it because he was her best friend and growing up they were all each other had. That’s why he came to the school, to make sure she was okay.

A traitorous voice pointed out that didn’t explain his overt affection as of late, but she ignored it.

She was the one whose feelings were getting the better of her, not him.

“Oh look, you can just see the top of the Washington Monument.” Niko pointed out from his side of the train. Gabriel had been dozing in his arms but looked up at his words. “We must nearly be there.”

They were shepherded off the train and divided into small groups, with a teacher supervising each one. Vanya’s friends stuck close to her side, so they’d be put together and ended up with Frank supervising them. After the civics teacher did another register check, they were led outside into the bustling city.

Their first stop was the Capitol Building, which was only a few blocks away. As the traffic was heavy, the groups became distanced from each other by changing walk signs. Trailing at the back of their class, Frank encouraged them all to hurry so they could make the green light at the next crosswalk.

They’d ended up at the back because of her friends’ casual amble but, unable to stomach the thought of tardiness after a lifetime under Sir Reginald’s stopwatch, Vanya was leading the group at the front in her eagerness to reach their destination on time. As such, when a car pelted through the red light towards the pedestrians crossing the street, it was her who was directly within its path.

She could see the accident that was about to unfold as the tires skidded across the road, the driver’s attempt at breaking futile as it continued on its trajectory towards her fragile body. Her heart seized before throwing itself against her ribs, and, as the car raced at her, it was all she could hear. Instinctively her arms raised in an attempt to protect her body and as she moved Vanya could feel a steady pulse in her veins which seemed to mirror the pattern of her heartbeat. Turning her head slightly, her hands fanned out before her and something foreign seemed to emanate from the tips of her fingers. A wave she had no control over broke out from the rhythm of her pulse and swelled before her. The car spun away under the force of the surge, crashing into a streetlight, flung away as though it were a toy which had failed to hold a child’s attention.

To everyone else, it seemed that the driver swerved in the nick of time, but Vanya knew. She knew it was her who had someone managed it.

“Oh my god!” Ellen cried, rushing to her side. “Vanya, are you okay? Jesus, that nearly hit you!”

“Asshole driver!” Niko yelled towards the crashed car, where other pedestrians were crowding around the stunned driver.

“Vanya?” Frank asked, quietly checking that she was unharmed.

Dropping her hands, she nodded her head when her voice failed to produce a sound. Everything around her seemed too loud, and she shook in harmony with the cacophony of noise coming at her from every angle.

Louisa threw an arm over her shoulder and pulled her tight against her side. Her heartbeat was too loud beneath her sensitive ear. “Thank god. When I saw that car coming at you I thought… the important thing is you’re all right.”

Frank pulled out his phone and called one of the other teachers. They ran over just as the first responder arrived, checking the driver.

“Kids, you go with Mr O’Brien,” Frank instructed. “I’ll stay here and talk to the police about the incident.”

Keeping a hold of her as they walked towards the Capitol Building, Louisa kept muttering words of comfort while Ellen took up her other side.

“You feel freezing, Vanya,” Ellen noted as she took her hand.

“Here, take my hat,” Gabriel said, placing his baseball cap over her hair.

“Thanks.” She muttered.

Once they reached the building, the civics teacher rushing over to them to check they were unharmed, Vanya asked to use a bathroom. One of the security guards led her to a staff toilet where she would get more privacy, waiting outside in case she suddenly felt ill.

With shaking hands, feeling shivery from the shock, Vanya crossed over to the sinks, planning to splash some water on her face. Turning on the faucet, she glanced up at the mirror and stopped with a jolt. The water continued to run as she surveyed her appearance, not believing what she was seeing.

* * *

Knowing Vanya would get in late, Five waited impatiently in his room until he heard Grace’s heels clicking along the hallway as she led Vanya to her bedroom. He waited a few minutes, giving her a chance to change and settle down, before teleporting to her.

Expecting to find her tucked into bed, he was surprised to find her standing frozen still in the middle of her room. Her backpack and shoes were still on, and she was wearing a hat he was certain she hadn’t left in.

Heart thumping with dread, he murmured, “Vanya?”

When she didn’t reply, he hastened to her – lightly settling a hand on her shoulder and tugging her into his side. Under his touch she seemed to come back to life, leaning on him heavily like she couldn’t stand on her own.

“What is it?” Five demanded. “What’s wrong? Did someone hurt you?”

Looking up at him with wide eyes, Vanya took a shaky step away from him so she had space to tug the hat from her head. A long piece of hair trickled down her shoulder after being curled up under the cap for several hours, where she had kept it hidden from questioning eyes. He stared at it for a moment before reaching out with his hand, carding his fingers through the glossy white strands.

“Five,” Vanya whispered, fear tightening in her throat, “I need your help.”

It was an easy request to reply to. Five knew he couldn’t deny her anything. “Whatever you want.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay updating but, you know, depression 🤷 Well, actually I hope you don't know. But if you do, you know... wow, what a garbage sentence 😂 In my defence I just spent about two hours editing this chapter, it was being stubborn. I hope you all like how it turned out though! 
> 
> Have a good weekend everyone 💙


	4. Chain

Five kept running his fingers over the strand of white hair, framing the front of Vanya’s face. She watched him nervously.

“What do you want me to do?” He asked gently.

“I… I need to cover this up.”

He nodded slowly. “I can jump to the drug store and get some hair dye.”

She waited for him to ask the inevitable, but, instead, he waited patiently, moving his hand to cup her cold face, running his thumb over the length of her cheekbone.

“My, my hair. I… I’m not sure how it happened but…” Vanya shuddered, feeling that it was impossible but unable to find any other explanation for what happened, “I think – and I know this sounds insane – but I think I have powers.”

Five’s expression didn’t change and, before she could try to justify her insane conclusion, he nodded again. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Do you want to tell me what happened?”

Vanya looked at his sincere face and – trembling so violently she felt like she would shake apart – she launched herself into his arms. He was steady, holding her up when she felt like falling down, pulling her firmly against him as he returned her embrace. Mumbling assurances in her hair, Five waited patiently, savouring the feel of her against him when, only a few moments ago, he had worried for her safety.

When she felt strong enough to stand on her own, she dropped her arms and Five helped her take off her backpack and coat so she could take a seat on the bed.

Sniffling as he bent down to untie her shoes, Vanya explained what had happened.

“And then the car came at me and, I don’t know how to describe it, but there was this loud beating in my ears and it just seemed to expand outwards. It knocked the car into a street light. Everyone thought they swerved. I did too for a moment and then I saw it. The beat seemed to come back, quieter then, and, as it did, I saw my hair turn white. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I tucked it behind my ear. Luckily, no one noticed, and Gabriel gave me his hat.”

“Did he see it?” Five queried, worried about further damage control.

“No. No, I think people thought I was cold. From the shock.”

He softened again.

Tugging on the section of white hair, Vanya curled it around her finger while Five set her shoes aside. When he took a seat beside her, she asked nervously, “Does it look bad?”

Five’s mouth slowly opened before he hastily exclaimed, “No.”

“You hesitated,” Vanya said, trying to chuckle.

“No, I didn’t. It looks good. Beautiful.”

Her laugh died and they both avoided making eye contact for a moment before Five remembered himself.

“Why do you think it happened now?”

“I don’t know.” She stammered, having wondered the same thing all afternoon.

“Can you think of anything that has changed recently? I can’t think this would happen at random. I mean, why would your powers only present now? The rest of us got ours around the same age.”

Shaking her head, she watched numbly as Five sat silently in thought. He kept his musings to himself, weighing them up in his mind, deliberating on their likeliness, finally asking: “Didn’t you say you were taking less medication now?”

“Yeah, but that’s just anxiety medication.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure about that? Let me look at it.”

“In my bedside table.” She told him.

Leaning over, Five pulled open the top drawer and grabbed the bottle.

“There’s no label on this.”

Shrugging, Vanya said there never had been.

“I don’t understand why that would change anything. I mean, I’m still taking it. Just one less than usual.”

“Lots of things can affect medication. You’ve been doing more exercise, maybe you’re metabolising it quicker. Either way, I think we should consider this a possibility.”

“But that would mean…” Shaking her head, Vanya didn’t want to finish the thought. All the adults in the house knew about her medication, insisted upon it. Grace reminded her at mealtimes, Pogo suggested additional doses if she was upset. If it were a way to suppress her powers, then that would mean they knew the truth. Wouldn’t it?

“I’ll do some digging around tomorrow.” Five promised. “Maybe there are some records in the infirmary that can explain what it is. Okay?”

“Yeah.” She mumbled, mind still racing over the possibilities. Everything felt wrong; like an out-of-control dream. There was no way this was really happening. Not after so many years of longing. And certainly not like this.

“Hey,” He said, taking her hand and squeezing it tightly, “we’ll figure this out. Together.”

“Should… should we tell the others?” Vanya asked nervously. She breathed a sigh of relief when Five quickly and firmly disagreed.

“No. Not until we know more. In the meantime, we keep this between us. Like your budding acting career.” He added with a wink, trying to lighten the atmosphere that hung heavy with apprehension.

“Okay.” She said, giving him a small smile which he readily returned.

“I’m going to go to the drug store and get some dye.” He said, running his fingers over the strand again. “It’ll raise too many questions if anyone else sees this. Try to find some old clothes to wear and meet me in the bathroom when you’re ready.”

Standing up from the bed, Five extracted the cash he had given her for the field trip from her backpack and pocketed it. He hesitated, almost opening a portal before catching her expression. Vanya didn’t need a reflection to know how pale she must have looked, she could feel the exhaustion exuding from her bones and the lines of fear heavy on her brow.

Tentatively moving toward her, Five pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.

“I’ll keep you safe.” He vowed against her temple, only pulling away when he felt her nod.

Vanya forced herself to move from the bed once he disappeared within a crack of blue. Pulling open her wardrobe, she found one of Five’s old gym shirts – gifted to her once he’d outgrown it. She put it on with her regular pyjama pants and went over to the mirror. Seeing her reflection was a shock; the flash of white a stark contrast to the rest of her dark hair. It was whiter than her skin, which had lost all colour after the shocks of the day, and seemed to glow with the remnants of her power.

Her power, she thought numbly. Something she had always wished for. Something she couldn’t begin to fathom. She wasn’t sure even what her power was, and couldn’t wrap her mind around the idea it had purposefully been kept from her.

Separating the foreign strain from her hair, Vanya tied the rest up into a ponytail. Unable to stand the sight of the white left hanging along the edge of her face, she tucked it behind her ear and turned from the mirror.

When Five came back, he had a carrier bag full of supplies, including a chocolate bar which he shoved into her hands.

“You need to eat something.” He explained when she looked at it in confusion. “For the shock. It’ll help.”

While he pulled out towels and the box of hair dye that he thought would best match her current shade, Vanya peeled open the wrapper and broke off a square. When it melted creamily on her tongue, she snapped another piece and held it up for Five.

He looked at it, deliberating whether he should take something purchased for her, but as she raised her hand insistently, he accepted it, ducking down to pluck it from her with his teeth. Smiling as he chewed, Five finished setting them up.

“Okay, put this towel around your shoulders while I read the instructions.”

Once he was satisfied, he layered the protect over the white strands.

“I’m not sure it’s a perfect match, but it should be less obvious.”

“Do you think it’ll turn back again, or will I have to dye it forever?”

Five shrugged. “I’m not sure. We’ll have to wait and see.”

Sitting patiently while he worked, she made a note of the time when he told her how long the dye would need to sit before she could wash it out.

“Perhaps you should stay home from school tomorrow?” Five suggested as he put everything back in the bag. He would stow it away, for the time being, so Grace wouldn’t find it while executing her cleaning subroutine. “Just until we have more of a handle on what your powers are?”

It was a sensible suggestion, but Vanya rebelled against it.

“No. I’d rather keep things normal. Besides, I don’t want to make anyone suspicious.”

The thought of her powers manifesting again around her friends was also infinitely better than it happening at the Academy. She didn’t even want to imagine the others’ reaction, especially if Five’s theory was right and her powers had been suppressed intentionally. She’d be back on her pills faster than Five could teleport across the room. Something she didn’t want; not now, when she felt more energetic, more alive, more present. It would be undeniably sensible, however, and safer to resume her regular dose.

“If that’s what you want, but if you feel like they’re going to manifest again, I want you to leave. I’ll try to visit you if there are no missions too, to make sure you’re okay.”

“Do you think I should start taking my second pill again?” Vanya asked nervously, not wanting him to agree but knowing if he did it was undoubtedly the right thing to do.

“How do you feel without them?” Five said, using the spatula to pull away the dye and check on the roots of her white hair.

“Better than I can ever remember.” She admitted. “I’ve had so much more energy. I thought it was because the anxiety medication was strong, or because I’ve been sleeping better since I started exercising. I guess now I know the real reason.”

“It would have to be strong medication to stop our powers.” He confirmed.

Redistributing the dye over her hair, Five told her it was time to rinse it out.

“Wait here a moment, I’ll turn the hallway camera off.”

When he came back, he hurried them into the shared bathroom. The rest of the Umbrella Academy had retired to bed over an hour ago, Vanya’s train getting her home past their bedtime, which meant they had it to themselves.

Filling up a sink with warm water, she was prepared to wash it out herself but Five stopped her.

“Sit on the stool, I’ll do it. I want to make sure we get all the dye out.”

He tilted her head back over the basin.

“Vanya,” he said, saturating the strand of hair, “I don’t want you to be unhappy. Just the opposite. If you don’t want to take your full dose, I won’t force you to. And if you want to stop taking them entirely, I’ll help. Although, I think it would be a bad idea to stop straight away. We should wean you off them, otherwise your powers might intensify before we have a handle on what they are.”

“I used to only take one pill,” she pointed out, closing her eyes as she enjoyed the sensation of Five’s fingers running through her hair, “and I didn’t experience anything like this then. So why now?”

“I’ll do some research in the library, but I think metabolism can affect medication. You’ve been exercising more, burning energy and consuming more food. Perhaps that weakened the strength of your remaining pill. Why did you go down to one anyway? You said you wanted more energy?”

“For cheerleader practice, yeah. And gym. When I was on a full dose, I felt too lethargic to do anything intensive. Besides, I thought it was anxiety medication. I wasn’t feeling anxious, not after how well things went at school, so I thought there was no harm in dropping a pill. I had no idea something like this would happen.”

And why would she? For as long as she could remember, her reality was one of utter ordinariness. Something which was drilled into her every day – Vanya was the ordinary one, the powerless one, the least important child whose only purpose was to get in everyone’s way. Until she had gone to school, where new opportunities had shown her things didn’t need to be that way. Then, just as she came around to the potential her ordinary life held, she finally received the very thing she had longed for. Something to make her extraordinary. Yet, it still wasn’t enough to make her a part of the Umbrella Academy – not if the reason for her medication were true. If Five was right, it would mean Reginald had always known what she was capable of. It would mean a power still wasn’t enough to earn the respect of her family.

“Well, thankfully you didn’t ask permission first.” Five said, lathering conditioner into the strand. “No one has suspected anything so far?”

“No. I disposed of the surplus medication so Mom wouldn’t see I had too many leftover. She hasn’t supervised me taking it in years.”

“Good. That’s good.” He muttered thoughtfully, rinsing once again. “Has anyone else said anything?”

She tried not to snort. “You know no one else in the house pays me any attention.”

“For once, that might be a good thing.” Five pointed out and, reluctantly, Vanya had to agree.

Once he finished drying her hair, checking no excess dye came away, he made quick work cleaning up the bathroom.

“Come on, you should try to get some sleep.” Five said when he spotted her yawn. Ushering her across the hall, he shut the door behind them as quietly as he could.

Remembering his earlier words, promising her anything she wanted, she had no hesitation asking, “Will you stay with me?”

“I intended to.” He replied, pulling back the covers on the bed. “Get in. I’ll just go get changed, turn the security cameras back on and hide this.”

Grabbing the carrier bag, he waited until Vanya was settled in the bed before blinking back to his own room.

She drummed her fingers on the covers while she waited, losing herself in the rhythm as a way to distract herself. It was unnoticeable at first how it seemed to thrum through her; until she noticed a faint ringing and realising the sound was echoing around the glass of water on her bedside table.

Abruptly stopping, she watched how the rings rippling along the surface resultantly settled.

Had she done that?

Shaking her head, too tired to dwell on it, she switched off the lamp, shuffled down the bed and got comfortable on her side. The sheets rustled as Five slipped in beside her, hugging her around the waist and burying his face into the nape of her neck.

“I’ll keep you safe.” He promised again, muttering it to himself as he dropped off.

It took Vanya a little longer, but eventually, she succumbed to dreams of shattering glass, screams of horror and her friends watching as it unfolded, each of them blanketed in a wash of white.

* * *

Cheerfully bidding Abhijat a good day, Vanya clambered out of the car and hastened towards the school. Despite her first class not starting for nearly thirty minutes, she was eager to get inside and out of the unseasonably cold weather.

Ellen was early too, the skirt of her cheerleader uniform fluttering as she dashed along the corridor to catch up.

“Oh, Vanya.” She called. “There you are. How are you feeling? That was so awful yesterday.”

Enveloping her in a hug, Ellen squeezed her tightly.

“I’m okay,” Vanya assured, hugging her back. “My Mom gave me a sleeping pill and I feel much better this morning for having slept.”

“I was so scared.” She replied. “I felt for sure it was going to hit you. Thank god they swerved in time.”

“Yeah.”

“So,” Ellen said, forcing a cheerful voice as she pulled away, “go to the locker room and get changed into your uniform. We have a lot to practice today, and we can’t waste time getting changed.”

Glad for the change in conversation, Vanya readily agreed. “What are we working on?”

“We’re going through the whole routine. Homecoming is next week, the football team are playing their first game at home, so we need to be in top form. The guys will be on the pitch too, Coach has them booked in. It’s always good to practice when we’re together. Besides, I like us all in our uniform. Reminds everyone that we’re a team.” Ellen grinned.

She loved her uniform for that very reason. So many years she had wanted one – specifically the one the Umbrella Academy wore – but having a uniform of her own was much better. After all this time, a uniform wouldn’t make her part of the Umbrella Academy. The rift between them was too great. At school, however, she had found her team. A team which stood behind her, supported her and recognised her potential – an experience she had never had before with anyone except Five.

“Come on, go get changed. You don’t want to be late to English class.”

Nodding, they walked to Vanya’s locker where she dumped her book bag, grabbed what she needed for English and carefully pulled out her uniform.

Every time she looked at it, she felt a little thrill seeing her name stitched into the collar – put there by Ellen after she made the team. The full red skirt barely brushed the tops of her knees once she’d pulled it over her head, rolling down the long white sleeves and affectionately tracing the school emblem emblazoned over the blue body.

Walking over to the locker room mirror, Vanya tied her hair up. Five had done a good job disguising the white strand, she could barely distinguish it from the rest. Taking a step back, she inspected her reflection to make sure the uniform wasn’t creased and couldn’t help but twirl to make the skirt flutter around her legs. Idly, she wondered how the outfit would look if her hair was completely white but dismissed the idea.

“Vanya?” Louisa said, tapping on the doorway. She was already in her uniform, with her blonde hair curled around her shoulders. “Ellen said you were in here.”

“Yeah, I was just coming out. I need to swing by my locker first to put my clothes away. I can catch you up?”

Glancing at the clock, she saw they only had a few minutes to get to class. While Frank was usually lenient with latecomers, as he was her favourite teacher, she didn’t want to risk disappointing him by becoming one of them.

“No,” Louisa said, holding up her hands. “I actually wanted to talk to you about something first.”

“Okay, shoot,” Vanya replied easily, taking a seat on one of the benches to tie her shoelaces.

She expected Louisa to join her, but instead, she paced the room. After a few seconds of nervously twisting her hands together, she blurted, “I saw what happened yesterday.”

Vanya frowned. “The car?”

Louisa shook her head. “Your hair.”

Her stomach wrenched uncomfortably. Did she know? Had she seen her use her powers? Vanya gnawed on her lip, barely managing to utter an, “Oh?” in response.

“It’s okay. I know it can happen sometimes, I just didn’t want to call attention to it and have everyone staring at you.” Louisa explained. “I see you managed to dye it though. I was going to offer to help this morning in case you didn’t have time last night.”

Morphing from fear to confusion, Vanya asked what she meant.

“Well, I know sometimes people’s hair can turn white from fear. I mean, I can’t even _imagine_ how you must have felt. I’ve never experienced anything like that.” She said. “It came so close to you, I thought for sure you were… well, it terrified me, and I was still safely on the sidewalk.”

Vanya relaxed. No one suspected she had powers, she realised with a sigh of relief.

“Fi… Finn helped me out.” She replied, catching herself before she used Five’s real name. “He ran out to get me some hair dye.”

Louisa smiled indulgently. “He sounds like a great boyfriend.”

Vanya opened her mouth to protest at the term but remembered Five’s words the other day. The pretence would make things easier.

“Do you think anyone else noticed?”

“No. But you know none of us would judge you for it, right? It’s perfectly natural to be scared in a situation like that. I was frightened watching it happen.”

Offering her hand, Louisa pulled Vanya up from her seat and gave her a hug.

“I’m really glad you’re okay. I know we haven’t known each other long, but you’re one of my best friends. I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to you.”

Not quite sure how to respond, feeling overwhelmed by the confession, Vanya nodded jerkily before muttering, “You’re one of my best friends too.”

“Glad to hear it. Now come on. Like you said, you’ve still got to go to your locker, and we don’t want to be late to class.”

They were slightly, but Louisa took the blame – saying she’d dropped her books and Vanya had stopped to help her.

She joined her table with Ellen and James while Louisa went to the back where some other cheerleaders were sat. Vanya didn’t notice the looks of appreciation as she passed, her skirt fluttering around her legs as she hurried to her seat.

They listened to Mr Paige outline the day’s lesson, which text they would focus on and what tasks he had set. He walked around the room, passing out some articles they were to analyse in relation to their reading assignment, coming to a pause beside their table.

“I wasn’t sure I’d see you today, Vanya,” Frank said, thumbing through the sheets to pick out three for her group. “I thought your parents might have kept you at home after yesterday’s scare.”

She shrugged, trying to appear casual. “It wasn’t so bad. I had a good night’s sleep and I feel fine today.”

“That’s good.” He replied, though he looked as though he didn’t believe her.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Vanya?” James asked, once their teacher left. “I still can’t believe what happened yesterday.”

“I’m fine. Really.” She said, trying not to sound short-tempered. The more they discussed it, the more worried she was about slipping up and inadvertently revealing what had really happened.

“Good. Just let me know if you need anything.”

“Well if Vanya doesn’t need you, do you think you can help me understand this?” Ellen said, intervening neatly into the conversation. She held up the article. “It might as well be written in Latin. Are we actually meant to know what any of this is about?”

Sharing a quiet chuckle, Vanya and James got on with their work – helping Ellen along the way.

Afterwards, they went to their separate classes before regrouping for lunch.

Catching up with Gabriel, Vanya scrambled for the hat stashed in her bag.

“I believe this belongs to you.” She said, offering it up.

“Oh, thanks, Vanya.” He grinned. “Niko gave me this, I’d hate to lose it.”

“Well, thanks for letting me borrow it.”

Slinging an arm around her shoulders, he assured her, “Any time. No one as cute as you should have to go around feeling cold.”

“Babe,” Niko protested, appearing at his other side, “I’m the only one you get to call cute.”

“Niko, you’re not cute,” Gabriel said, only waiting for his boyfriend to pout before adding, “you’re hot.”

“No arguments there.” He replied, immediately perking up.

Vanya laughed at their playfulness. She’d never seen a couple like them before and wondered if she would ever be fortunate to have anything like it.

“So Louisa told me your beau was looking after you last night,” Niko said. “Got him running errands for you already, huh? Good work.”

“He was just checking on me.” She mumbled, averting her eyes out of embarrassment.

“That’s so sweet,” Gabriel said.

“You’d do that for me?”

“You even have to ask? I wouldn’t leave your side for a minute.”

“Thanks, babe.” Niko beamed.

“What’re boyfriends for?”

Niko giggled, eyes fixated on something in the distance. “Speaking of… look who’s come to visit?”

He pointed his finger and, following it, Gabriel and Vanya soon found Five, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, looking incredibly annoyed as students shoved past him in the rush to grab their lunch and get a good table. He was scanning the crowd intensely but hadn’t noticed the focus of his search appearing.

Vanya paused nervously, conscious of her uniform which she smoothed with her hands.

“Has he not seen you in it before?” Gabriel asked incredulously. When Niko had received his, he’d barely taken it off for a week.

“Oh, honey,” Niko cooed, “trust me. No one reacts badly to seeing their beau in a cheerleader outfit.”

“Testify.” Gabriel snickered, taking an appreciative glance of Niko’s. It was almost identical to Vanya’s, with exception of the skirt, which was replaced with full-length pants, and a round collar instead of the polo neck the girls had.

“Go on. We’ll save you a seat.”

Niko gave her a light push forward, as they both scampered off.

Five’s eyes narrowed on the couple as they passed him by but, when he turned to look in the direction they had come from, he looked over Vanya at first. He was searching for the girl he had watched leave that morning, her hair loose to hide her face, wearing jeans and a sensible sweater-set.

On second glance he found her, eyes widening as he took in her brushed-back hair, pleated red skirt, long white sleeves and cobalt blue vest.

Sucking in a breath, he managed a weak wave to beckon her over.

Feeling self-conscious as she walked over, incredibly aware of his eyes on her and the blush he was inspiring, Vanya joined him.

“I didn’t expect you so soon.” She mumbled.

“Diego’s in solo practice. Made it easy to sneak out.” Five explained, dragging his gaze back to her face. “Erm, cool uniform.”

“Well it’s not stab-resistant, or whatever yours is meant to be,” she chuckled nervously, “but I quite like it.”

“Me too.” Five breathed, before snapping back to reason. “I mean, it looks good. Do you think you can sneak away for lunch? There’s a doughnut shop not far from here. It’s not Griddy’s but…”

“Sounds good.” Vanya interrupted. Her friends would understand her absence. “Lead the way.”

* * *

Exhaling with relief when she agreed, Five guided them away. He’d been on edge after his morning rummaging around the Academy for an explanation of Vanya’s medication, but seeing her in her uniform… well, it had thrown him, at a time when he needed to keep it together.

Tentatively interweaving their fingers, confident she wouldn’t shun him – at least not on the school campus where they were under the pretence of a romantic relationship – he depended on her touch to ground him.

Early that morning, not long after Pogo had ushered Vanya out the house, he had taken advantage of Reginald’s location in the training room – setting up some medieval-looking device for whichever poor soul was receiving individual training that day – to jump into his study. He didn’t have long there, knew it was rarely left unattended for any length of time, but it was the only place he was likely to find answers. And he knew just where to look.

Reginald’s red journal. The book clutched in his hands during every activity, often pulled out in the event of any spontaneous use of powers from a hidden pocket in his jacket. He would return for it shortly, only leaving it momentarily while he carried out his preparations.

Five had never tried to take it before, knowing how difficult it would be to get. Another part of him had been reluctant to, in no mood to read in full detail how he and the others were considered nothing more than lab experiments in the eyes of their owner. Measly mice to test on, simple to dispose of if anything went wrong, and easy to keep contained.

When he found it, he was tempted to look upon his own section, curious what notations there were on his powers and the possibility of using them to time-travel. The book was clearly broken up into seven segments, but he was too conscious of the limited amount of time he had and hastened forward to the last part, marked ‘00.07’ where he was sure to find out what Vanya’s medication was for.

It contained everything he feared it would.

Meticulous notes of her behaviour, including concerned scribbles about her conduct subsequent to enrolling at high school. Questions over her current dosage and whether it needed to be increased again after observing signs of heightened energy. Mentions to her bond with Number Five, speculations over its depth, ideas for dividing them or manipulating the connection. There was a note on the regular gaps in the security feed, wondering whether Five had learnt to tamper with the cameras and was using that knowledge to visit Vanya at night. Reginald had even devised methods to try to catch him in the act.

Looking over the list of powers associated with Number Seven, he had been unprepared for the arsenal buried under the drugs Vanya was plied with since the age of four. He noted the implementation of Allison’s rumour and wondered if the effects of which had broken once her powers reactivated, but there was no time to read more. He’d kept himself limited to a minute and, after absorbing everything he could – trying to memorise as much as he could to help Vanya manage her powers – Five replaced the book exactly where he found it and jumped back to the security room to restart the cameras.

Squeezing Vanya’s hand as they walked through the front gates of her school, looking over at her content expression as she described her morning and the fun she’d had with her friends, Five wondered if she knew how much danger she was in. Of the likelihood it would be taken away from her. Reading the notebook had left him in no doubts; if Reginald found out she was off her pills, that her powers were back, he would lock her in the basement cell indefinitely. Until he prepared a more permanent solution to his decade-long headache. Something Five wouldn’t allow to happen.

Which is why they had to act. They had to or he would risk losing her forever.

He just hoped Vanya would see it that way when he finally figured out how to tell her they were running away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the delay. Things have just been, urgh. My granddad is on palliative care, work is an absolute nightmare so I'm job-hunting, and I'm doing book-edits which eat up most of my free time 😶 I had planned to finish the whole story first and then start posting again, put it all out at once so you don't keep having long waits (like I did with Transduction - my fiveya zombie au), but then the fiveya writers needed to rally so I decided to post it now. The next chapter is not started, but I do know what's going to happen.
> 
> If you're wondering about Vanya's cheerleader uniform, it's inspired by the one Sabrina and Roz wear in CAOS but with a blue vest instead of red (keeping the red skirt and white sleeves/neck). Sabrina is also providing my white hair inspo. As well as Anna in Frozen (and yes, I did use a line of Frozen dialogue within the story) and Lorraine Broughton in Atomic Blonde. I really do need to make a mood board as I've got a ton of white hair pictures saved on my phone! Anyway, I hope you all liked it and thank you so much for your continued patience. You're all amazing and I hope you know it 💝


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